Strange and sad story. Bradley Cooper is producing the film version of American Sniper. http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/03/justice/texas-sniper-killed/index.html
Chris Kyle had over 150 confirmed sniper kills from 1999 to 2009. Sad that a former Marine killed him. Fame isn't everything
True. And from what I heard he was trying to help this former Marine with PTSD. It probably happened as his back was turned and/or just unexpected. I appreciate people, especially former soldiers trying to help but I can't help but think Kyles' title as "most lethal sniper in U.S. history" fame contributed somewhat to the mentally unbalanced Marine as an added reason to kill him and another just out of the blue. It's likely he resented the "help" from someone who was doing well with his war experience (and after with the book and interviews) while the killer obviously spiraled down mentally both during and after his war experience. All it probably took was some simple words that pushed him to the edge, then snap... Hopefully we learn that it might be best to leave helping others to those better trained. RIP to the two former Seal team soldiers http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/04/us/chris-kyle-american-sniper-author-reported-killed.html?_r=0
Something about taking a former military serviceman with PTSD to a gun range just seems like a really bad idea. This kind of explains to me why. It seems he had done it many times before with some success, though.
Seems like a stupid way to treat a man that experienced trauma from a warfare enviroment. "Let's go shoot some guns!" But what do I know, I'm no Dr. Phil.
I've heard that part of the treatment for PTSD is to have soldiers play things like Call of Duty and other violent war themed video games. Part of the problem of PTSD is adjusting back to peace time and having them re-experience the stress of combat in a controlled environment helps them. It's possible that taking Routh to a shooting range was part of that treatment. That said if Routh had been violent maybe live fire might not have been the best exercise to do with him. RIP to Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. Very sad that they risked their lives for their country only to have it ended here on US soil by a soldier they were trying to help.